Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of FreemasonryPike, Albert
Religion
Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry
Pike, Albert
Freemasons
He raises up the sinner and the Samaritan woman, and teaches them to
hope for forgiveness. He pardons the woman taken in adultery. He selects
his disciples not among the Pharisees or the Philosophers, but among the
low and humble, even of the fishermen of Galilee. He heals the sick and
feeds the poor. He lives among the destitute and the friendless. "Suffer
little children," He said, "to come unto me; for of such is the kingdom
of Heaven! Blessed are the humble-minded, for theirs is the kingdom of
Heaven; the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth; the merciful, for
they shall obtain mercy; the pure in heart, for they shall see God; the
peace-makers, for they shall be called the children of God! First be
reconciled to they brother, and _then_ come and offer thy gift at the
altar. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of
thee turn not away! Love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do
good to them that hate you; and pray for them which despitefully use you
and persecute you! All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to
you, do ye also unto them; for this is the law and the Prophets! He that
taketh not his cross, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me. A new
commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another: as I have loved
you, that ye also love one another: by this shall all know that ye are
My disciples. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down
his life for his friend."
The Gospel of Love He sealed with His life. The cruelty of the Jewish
Priesthood, the ignorant ferocity of the mob, and the Roman indifference
to barbarian blood, nailed Him to the cross, and He expired uttering
blessings upon humanity.
Dying thus, He bequeathed His teachings to man as an inestimable
inheritance. Perverted and corrupted, they have served as a basis for
many creeds, and been even made the warrant for intolerance and
persecution. We here teach them in their purity. They are our Masonry;
for to them good men of all creeds can subscribe.
That God is good and merciful, and loves and sympathizes with the
creatures He has made; that His finger is visible in all the movements
of the moral, intellectual, and material universe; that we are His
children, the objects of His paternal care and regard; that all men are
our brothers, whose wants we are to supply, their errors to pardon,
their opinions to tolerate, their injuries to forgive; that man has an
immortal soul, a free will, a right to freedom of thought and action;
that all men are equal in God's sight; that we best serve God by
humility, meekness, gentleness, kindness, and the other virtues which
the lowly can practise as well as the lofty; this is "the new Law," the
"WORD," for which the world had waited and pined so long; and every true
Knight of the Rose will revere the memory of Him who taught it, and
look indulgently even on those who assign to Him a character far above
his own conceptions or belief, even to the extent of deeming Him Divine.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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